Summer Scares
Horror Writing, Community Building, and Creative Inspiration
Hello there! I’m Jason Huls, a horror writer, filmmaker, and podcaster. This is where I talk about creative projects and / or interesting things I stumble across.
Writing
Last week I participated in the Summer Scares series at the Bellwood Public Library. This was my first in-person Horror Writers Association event. It was valuable for me because I enjoy talking with other creatives and learning how they approach their work. I was on the Young Adult horror panel along with writers Laszlo Tamasfi and Damien Serbu. It was moderated by Michael Allen Rose, who did a wonderful job keeping the conversation lively and interesting.
We discussed how writing horror for a young adult audience differs from writing adult horror. I don’t necessarily aim for YA but I think most of my work would fit just fine with a teen audience. That said, uh, don’t watch the end of Citizen in the Temple, kids. My feeling is, at the core of the project, you still need authentic young characters with agency and a compelling conflict, like Stranger Things!
If I were writing specifically for a YA audience, I would tone down anything that would move the story toward an R rating. Danger and death can still exist without reveling in the gory details. As an aside, I’m not a fan of torture p0rn at all, but I saw Hostel in the theater opening weekend. It was 2006. When the lights came up, I remember a couple coming down the stairs led by a child that couldn’t have been more than five. There is no way to earmuff or cover the eyes enough for that movie. I sincerely hope that girl is doing well in therapy.
We also discussed how we approach mediums differently. I’d love to do a comic book someday but right now it’s all fiction and films for me. I love the solitude of fiction writing and the collaborative process of filmmaking. It's two different sports. When writing fiction, the character’s thoughts, history, and inner life ends up on the page. In screenwriting (most of the time) you’re limited to dialogue and action. Anything beyond that is considered “directing from the page” and those bits will likely be changed or outright ignored. You hand over control of subtext and the characters’ inner lives to the director and cast. It really is a different way of creating.
I’ve written three stories in the past few months. Two are for my own weird fiction anthology. For those of you familiar with That Damned Yellow Raincoat, the stories are in that universe. The Raincoativerse? My goal is to have the anthology finished by the end of the year. I also began the screenplay adaptation process for both so hopefully I’ll be shooting a lot over the next year. The third story is for someone else's anthology. I very much appreciate the invitation to contribute and I’ll talk about the details of that book when I’m cleared to.
The panel touched upon the importance of defining your niche. I’ll probably do a separate post on how I defined mine, and how that’s going. There's a lot written on the topic but the modern wisdom is to clearly define your target audience, know them inside and out, and plug yourself in to that community. I think the “niche down” principle applies across all disciplines. The world is saturated with content and writers, musicians, filmmakers, and podcasters are all vying for your attention. Even if you’re successful, it can be a frustratingly slow process and “likes” don’t necessarily lead to meaningful engagement. I’m still working on the whole “1000 true fans / audience building” process. So I should probably write more here! Heh. In the meantime, I focus on the “work is the reward” philosophy so I feel pretty good about my progress in all things creative. There’s nothing I’d rather do besides write and make films anyway, and at the end of the day no matter what happens I have something cool that I’m proud of. So I get the work done and try to share the process and maybe I’ll make some more friends along the way.
P.S. I’d love to get a conversation going about the niche topic, so by all means if you have any thoughts, leave a comment.
Thank you to the Bellwood Library and the Summer Scares program. It was great connecting with everyone.
Filmmaking
In addition to the three short stories I mentioned, I'm working on a sequel side-quel to my film, Beyond the Basement Door. The title is Beyond the Namless Shore. We’re sticking with the “Beyond” theme. Here’s the first film if you’ve never seen it.
The movie features a Manos: The Hands of Fate easter egg. Actually, easter egg is putting it mildly. It’s a huge painting of The Master. The official Manos facebook page picked up on it a few days ago and gave the film some love. Much appreciated!
Podcasting
The Mythos Minute Podcast has a new home. It’s www.themythosminutepodcast.com. I have episodes 1-50 posted. I’m trying to get the same amount of episodes posted across all the podcast services and social media platforms. I’m releasing (usually) two episodes per day on Tiktok until I reach 50. That should be complete in late August. So if you do the Tiktok, you can find the podcast on there @themythosminutepodcast. I’m planning to put out a call for submissions in mid-October. I have 75 episodes complete, which is enough content to last through the end of the year. New submissions will be released early 2025.
A few weeks back I had the honor of being a guest on the Eerie Travels Podcast (@eerietravelsshow) with hosts Erika Lance (@authorelance) and Mark Muncy (@eerietravelstv). We talked about horror, filmmaking, writing, gaming, and some of the weirder things that have happened in my life. Paranormal stuff! If you need an hour of entertainment, we have you covered.
Click right here for the episode.
Reading
I just finished The Willows by Algernon Blackwood. I can’t believe I haven’t read this until now. I made a goofy video about it.
Watching
TV: What We Do in the Shadows. Doesn’t everyone love Matt Berry? I just finished season 2 and it’s really starting to cook.
Movies: Godzilla Minus One. It’s the greatest Godzilla movie of all time, right?
That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!